above/below> englewood village plaza concept / courtesy of atelier bow-wow
[ englewood village plaza / atelier bow-wow / tokyo ]

the englewood village plaza at 58th street and halsted serves as the entry point to the englewood nature trail. as a two-mile-long green infrastructure reuse project, the trail builds on foundational values of anti-displacement, fostering career pathways, and community stewardship. the plaza will serve as a gathering space for the englewood community with a range of uses including a weekly community market, a learning garden, and a site for cultural discussions and film screenings—all rooted in black culinary and land traditions.

through a co-creation process with grow greater englewood, atelier bow-wow designed raised gardening beds, indoor growing houses, new office space, a forty-person communal table, and the englewood commons. both the community table and the commons serve multiple functions: the former is a place where residents can break bread with their neighbors and families, feeding both body and soul. the latter, to be constructed in 2022, will be a gathering deck for events, markets, and performances. together, these communal spaces, which will be open to all partners and community residents, reinforce the idea that community wealth is rooted in its health.

atelier bow-wow is a tokyo-based firm founded by yoshiharu tsukamoto and momoyo kaijima in 1992. the pair’s interests range from architectural design and urban research to the creation of public artworks, which are produced based on the concept of “behaviorology.” atelier bow-wow has designed and built houses and public buildings mainly in tokyo, but also in europe and the us. their urban research led to the experimental project micro-public-space that has been exhibited across the world. among their books are graphic anatomy (toto, 2007) and behaviorology (rizzoli, 2010).

neighborhood: englewood
venue: the englewood village plaza
address: 58th street and halsted, 60621
hours to visit: daily between 11am-4pm
project by: atelier bow-wow

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photography by gloria araya
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